


Can’t Stop Falling

by ellebellebab



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Reader-Insert, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-07
Updated: 2015-01-09
Packaged: 2018-02-28 12:19:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2732264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ellebellebab/pseuds/ellebellebab
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You’re sick, really sick, but with so much to do at Roosterteeth you don’t even think about taking a day off, until your boss Burnie makes it quite clear you have no choice.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Consolidation

**Author's Note:**

> Loosely based on my favourite fanfiction of all time “I’ve Got A Fever (And the Cure is More Darren Criss), or, In Sickness and in Schmoop.” By misswonderheart and waxpoetically. I don't watch Glee or ship anything from it anymore but if you ship Crisscolfer you should read it. If you don’t, you should still read it because it’s fucking good yo’

You woke up and immediately groaned, blinking against the early morning sun peeking through the blinds. You stretched carefully, moving to sit up and immediately regretting it when your head swam dangerously.

“God damn it” you sighed taking a deep breath and forcing yourself to sit up, swinging your legs over the edge of the bed and reaching for your bottle of water on your nightstand.  
It had been a long weekend of you feeling nothing but miserable, what had started off as a little head cold on Friday afternoon had blown into a full virus. You got out of bed and looked at your room in disgust, there were bottles of cold and flu tablets and antibiotics littering your side table and used tissues scrunched up all over your bed. You stared at your infected room for another moment before shrugging your shoulders and moving off to get changed, not trusting yourself to shower without passing out.

You pulled on some jeans and a sweatshirt, shivering even though the air was warm and looked at your face in disgust, your nose was red from wiping it so much and your eyes were continuously watering. You simply pulled your hair into a knot on top of your head leaving everything else, you weren’t a miracle worker and your face could not be saved. You grabbed your bag and keys and made your way outside, breathing through your nose carefully and trying not to cough from the simple task of walking out of your apartment. 

After climbing into the car you rested your head against the steering wheel for a moment, sighing softly and staring out the windshield. Unlike a lot of other employees at Roosterteeth you couldn’t find an apartment too close, everyone else working there had seemingly snatched them all up or they were way out of your price range, the best you could do was to rent a small apartment a half an hour’s drive from the office. 

Usually you liked the drive, it gave you a chance to wake up properly, sing along to some music and sip on your travel mug of coffee, but today, you were having a hard time even keeping your eyes open. You wound the window down, the fresh air on your face helping to keep you alert and drove as carefully as you could to work, breathing a sigh of relief when you pulled into the parking lot. 

“It’s only an eleven hour work day” you said to yourself, gathering your things and turning the car off, “You can totally do this” 

What you needed before you started your day? Sweet caffeine. You made your way through the office, waving at the few people you passed before entering the kitchen and making a beeline straight for the coffee maker, it was blessedly half full and steaming hot from some kind soul before you and you poured out a mug, sipping it carefully and groaning.

“Now I know the coffee isn’t that good.” A voice said behind you, you turned to find Burnie and shook your head.

“No, which is stingy by the way, it wouldn’t kill you guys to buy the good stuff you know? I just really needed caffeine” you rasped, voice shaky from under use.   
“You look like crap.” Burnie said, leaning against the bench and looking you over. You felt yourself blush, furrowing your brows at him. 

“Well thank you for that.” You said, taking another sip of coffee and adjusting your bag over your shoulder.

“No I mean, well you look fine just, a bit crappy?” He said, laughing softly.  
“I’ve got the flu.” You sighed, cocking an eyebrow at him when he immediately took a step back.

“Don’t say that word too loud here everyone will gang up on you and send you home.” He paused, holding your gaze for a moment and continuing to frown. 

“Which actually might not be such a bad idea; if you’re feeling that bad you should go home.” He said seriously, eyes shining with worry. You snorted unattractively and shook your head. 

“Okay, sure, but when three different videos are late this week you can deal with the fans.” You replied “I’m fine really.” You shrugged, turning around and making to leave, unfortunately the sudden movement had your head spinning again and before you knew it you were losing your balance. 

“Shit!” You shut your eyes as you heard the mug that previously contained your precious coffee smash on the floor and felt your body hit something hard.  
“I really liked that mug” you heard Burnie sigh, and you opened your eyes slowly, aware that you hadn’t actually hit the ground and that Burnie’s arms were wrapped around you, his gaze on the broken mug. 

“Crap” you sighed. He straightened you back up, holding up a hand for you to stay as he picked up the broken pieces of the mug around you and mopped up the spilt coffee. You obeyed, staring dumbly at the mess you’d made and wondering how the throbbing in your head could be getting worse every millisecond. 

“Okay, you’re going home.” Burnie said turning to you and crossing his arms, you shook your head.

“Burnie I have work to do, seriously I-” 

“Other people can pick up the slack, the videos will get done, you need to get better.” He said firmly. 

“Jeez okay dad.” You pouted, although you felt a small wave of pressure lift from your shoulders, maybe it was easier to just succumb to the virus and let it have its way with you. 

“What?” Burnie said a small grin on his face. 

“Did I say that out loud?” you asked. He chuckled quietly and nodded. 

“Okay time for you to go.” He picked up his keys and wallet from the kitchen bench and steered you outside, stopping at Kara’s desk on the way.

“This one’s going home” Burnie said nodding to you “I’m not letting her drive herself she’ll hurt someone, I’ll be back in a few hours I have that meeting at noon.” Kara nodded, making sympathetic noises albeit from a larger than needed distance.  
“Wait, no, I’ll drive myself don’t be stupid I live way too far.” you protested, realizing what Burnie had said when you’d already reached his car. He just sighed, opening the passenger door and looking at you pointedly.

“Get in the car.” You shook your head and started walking in the direction of your own car on the other side of the lot.

“No really Burnie, it’s completely out of your way I can drive I’m fine-whoa!” You said quickly losing your balance, you saw Burnie’s hand grab for your elbow and you winced. 

“You were holding onto me that whole time weren’t you?” 

“If you hadn’t told me you were sick I would have thought you were drunk. You wouldn’t be the first person to come to work still drunk believe me, I’ve worked with Geoff for ten years. Now would please stop being so fricken stubborn and get in the car.” You exhaled, the rest of the fight leaving your body as a fresh wave of pain hit your skull and nodded, crawling into the passenger seat and letting Burnie buckle your seat belt, tucking your legs underneath you and resting your head on the window.  
You were quiet as Burnie started the car, realizing now when you weren’t pretending to be fine just how tired and beaten down you felt. 

“Thank you Burnie” you said sleepily, not hearing his answer, your eyes fluttering shut before you’d even left the parking lot.


	2. Dizzy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You’re sick, really sick, but with so much to do at Roosterteeth you don’t even think about taking a day off, until your boss Burnie makes it quite clear you have no choice.

You heard a car door slam and you flinched out of your fever induced dream and into reality, opening your eyes and blinking against the mid morning sun. 

“Did you know you snore?” You turned your head and saw Burnie placing a bag in the backseat of his car and you scoffed.

“I do not” you yawned slowly, stretching your neck and looking around.

“Where are we? This isn’t my house.” Burnie laughed, closing the back door and getting back into the driver’s seat.

“Your powers of deduction are overwhelming; I just stopped by my place to grab a few things.” He said starting up the car and reversing back onto the road, you stared at him for a moment. 

“Why?” He rolled his eyes and let out a long suffering sigh.

“Because, you’re not allowed to be alone, you’re gonna pass out and hit your head or something and I’m gonna get a call in a few days from your next door neighbor saying you’re dead and it’s a lot more stress than I need. I have no time to find a new intern.” He added, smiling at you sweetly.  
You took a deep breath, blinking a few times as the thoughts connected in your flu thickened head.

“You-” you shook your head and relaxed against your seat “This is dumb” you settled on, folding your arms and pouting. Burnie simply laughed.

“Isn’t it? Now, do you have medicine?” You sighed.

“Uh, I think I’m out of everything” you said quietly, embarrassed at the sheer amount of pills you’d taken in the past week in the vain attempt of warding off your cold. He nodded, indicating across traffic.

“We’ll stop at a pharmacy.” He turned to you and smiled “Get you nice and drugged up.” 

“Inappropriate” you said, yawning again, your eyes closing slowly. 

“Ugh, I don’t wanna sleep.” You mumbled fighting to keep your eyes opened. You felt Burnie’s hand reach across and squeeze your own.

“Shhh, sleep, you need it.” You made a noise in reply, falling asleep aware that Burnie’s hand was holding your own, the weight of it pulling you into unconsciousness faster than you’d anticipated.  
You woke up again to a car door slamming and Burnie leaning across you, unclipping your seat belt.

“Hello.” You rasped, voice dry and tickled, he turned his face to look at you and laughed.

“You really do snore.” He said, leaning back out of the car and adjusting the bag that had been in the back seat over his shoulder as well as your own. You fixed him with a glare.

“I do not don’t be stupid.” You insisted, turning your body out of the car, he grabbed your hand and you sighed tiredly. 

“I’m not crippled” you said, mostly to yourself, as you grabbed his hand, holding on harder than you’d care to admit when you stepped down and realized how weak you felt. 

“I feel so awful” you moaned, shuffling slowly to the front door and waiting for Burnie to hand you your keys from your bag.

“Lucky I stopped for medicine then, sweet sweet medicine.” Burnie said, leaning against the wall as you fiddled with the lock and opened the door. You stopped before stepping inside, eyes widening.

“Uh, I don’t, can I just go in for a minute by myself?” You asked in a pleading voice, thinking of the used tissues and dirty clothes strewn all over your bedroom, the dirty dishes in the sink. Burnie raised his eyebrows at you.

“Why? Do you have weird stuff in there? Like, really weird? Dirty weird?” He asked, voice dipping low. You rolled your eyes hitting him on the arm.

“No! You creep! It’s just I haven’t had a chance to clean and I live alone and-” he laughed, opening up the door fully and stepping past you inside. 

“Get over yourself; you should see my apartment I live alone too you know.” You sighed, following him inside slowly, eying the kitchen warily and berating yourself for not taking the rubbish out. 

“Well, fine, but don’t judge me.” You said, leaning against the wall in the kitchen heavily and yawning again, watching as Burnie slipped his shoes off and placed his bag on the couch. He turned to you shrugging.

“Have you seen my desk, this shit is nothing” he pulled a paper bag out of his duffel and walked over to you, “I think you should sleep.” All you could do is nod dumbly, feeling relieved that you were in your little house and could relax properly.  
You led Burnie to your bedroom, aware that under other circumstances you’d probably be feeling pretty awkward; instead you just wanted to curl into a ball in your bed, unintentional house guests be damned. You pulled off your sweatshirt and smirked a little when Burnie’s steps faltered. 

“I’ll uh, give you a minute to get changed.” He said looking lost for a moment before just turning around on the spot, looking at the books on your bookshelf in the corner of your room. 

You sat on the edge of your bed, pulling on a fresh pair of pajama bottoms and a clean sweatshirt before crawling in, grabbing the used tissues and placing them in the trash bin under your bedside table, coughing from the simple task of getting changed. 

Burnie was there instantly, rubbing small circles in your back as your lungs protested against the oxygen you desperately needed. You sucked in some deep breaths, wiping the tears from your eyes and feeling your face burn from embarrassment, it was bad enough someone was seeing you like this, let alone your boss. A man you respected and loved and disliked making yourself look like an idiot in front of.  
Your breathing finally evened out and you sighed, looking up at Burnie who was perched cautiously on the side of your bed, looking down at you with knitted brows of worry. 

“Alright?” You nodded, head aching. 

“Okay, here, cough medicine” he said firmly, pouring out a dosage of dark liquid into a medicine cup and passing it to you. You grimaced, reaching for it reluctantly and swallowing the thick substance quickly. 

“Ugh” you groaned, looking at Burnie with thankful eyes when he passed you a bottle of water, chugging half the contents quickly to get rid of the taste. 

“I’ve seen you shot tequila with less of a reaction than that you big baby.” He said, nudging your shoulder as he popped two pain killers and passed them to you. 

“But I like the taste of Tequila.” You pouted, taking the pills with some more water. 

“Can I sleep now?” You asked in a small voice, sliding down into your bed more and resting your head against the pillows.  
Burnie smiled down at you, reaching over to push a piece of hair off of your forehead and nodded. 

“I think you should.” You leant against his touch and closed your eyes, his hand playing with your hair as you felt yourself fall asleep again. 

“Thank you Burnie” you murmured. 

“Anytime” he whispered, the softness of his voice against the silent house pulling you asleep once again.


	3. Chicken Soup

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You continue to feel awful and Burnie continues to push the relationship between boss and employee.

The rest of your senses woke up before you did, due in part, you thought, to the heavenly smell that was emanating from the direction of your kitchen. 

You stretched leisurely in your bed, breathing out a sigh of relief when you felt your back pop. The way that it hurt and the tightness in your chest made you think that you'd probably been coughing in your sleep.

You opened your eyes slowly and blinked the sleep away; looking out at the sliver of sky you could see in the gap in your curtains. The sun was hanging low, almost ready to set as a hue of pink spread from it.

Apparently you'd been more tired than you'd thought.

The smell of food was more present than ever and you felt your stomach grumble as you swung your legs onto the floor and stood up slowly, grimacing as the room spun slightly with the sudden movement. 

As you made your way down the hall from your bedroom to your kitchen you heard a soft humming, grinning to yourself when you realized Burnie was a secret fan of Katy Perry. The grin however turned into full blown laughter when you saw his full ensemble. 

Your laughter quickly dissolved into a coughing fit and you doubled over, a faint rattle in your chest worrying you slightly as your throat was ripped to shreds with every cough.

You were acutely aware of Burnie at your side instantly, rubbing small circles in your back and making vague cooing noises at you.

You took a deep shaky breath and stood up, feeling your lungs burn as you tried not to laugh again.

"What the hell is up with the outfit?" you croaked out.

Burnie looked down at himself in surprise before grinning at you.  
"Well, you were snoring up a storm so I figured I'd go get supplies because you are seriously lacking in the whole food department. I don't know if you know this but maybe you wouldn't get sick if you ate something besides frozen pizza" he teased, folding his arms and leaning against the kitchen bench.

You simply rolled your eyes, moving to sit on a stool at your breakfast bar.  
"Pizza has vegetables" you muttered, stifling a yawn and running your fingers through your bed head.   
"Still doesn't explain the outfit"

"I'm making soup and thought I'd look the part" Burnie said, doing a twirl. You giggled as the floral apron your grandmother had given you when you'd moved into your big girl apartment fanned out around Burnie's large frame.

"Well someone should wear it. Also, you did not have to make me soup." you said feeling instantly guilty at the time you were taking out of Burnie's day.

He simply stirred the pot on the stove shaking his head slightly.

"You don't want soup? It's chicken noodle" 

You sighed impatiently.  
"Of course I want soup who do you think I am? I just mean, you're like super busy and I'm sure you have lots of work to do and you're a wonderful boss but honestly you don't have to go to all this trouble."

You cleared your throat at the awkward pause that followed, your throat giving out from the verbal garbage that had just spewed out unwillingly. You had the problem of almost never thinking before you spoke.

"I went to my meeting and that's really all I had to be at the office for. I can do everything else from home" he shrugged.

"But this is my home" you argued, smiling as he rolled his eyes.

"I now remember why we hired you, you have the exact amount of intelligence to work at the company." he said dryly, turning the stove down and moving around to face you.

You smiled up at him opening your mouth to deliver what was sure to be a witty comeback when another bout of coughing attacked. 

You doubled over, pressing your face into the crook of your elbow as you tried to dislodge whatever was irritating your lungs. You felt Burnie's palm again, rubbing circles into your back, it was comforting in a way you hadn't felt in a very long time and when you'd stopped coughing you looked up at him gratefully, feeling suddenly very small and very sorry for yourself.

Burnie reached out, fingertips brushing away the tears that had fallen from the force of your coughing. Your eyes fluttered closed as the pads of his fingers moved across your cheeks. 

"I feel shitty" you sighed finally, once the silence had gotten too much.

"Frozen pizza"

You opened your eyes, scowling at Burnie and swatting his hands away.

"Okay, I think it's more medicine and food time" 

"Okay mum"

Burnie simply grinned at you in a way that made your stomach feel slightly fluttery in a not entirely unpleasant way and grabbed your hand, leading you over to your couch and sitting you down. You yawned pitifully as he tucked a blanket around you and passed you your television remote. 

"You find something interesting to watch and I'll get your drugs"

"Sounds good to me" you croaked out, going to Netflix and settling on an episode of your favourite sitcom that you'd already seen a hundred times before.

You listened out and heard Burnie whistling to himself softly and you smiled. One part of you was slightly confused as to what was happening you knew Burnie cared about everyone at the company a lot more than most bosses would, but he was definitely going above and beyond for you and you couldn't exactly figure out why.

Another part of you was just happy despite how crappy you felt. You'd moved out of home a few years ago and since then you'd never really lived with anyone or had anyone close to you who would take care of you like Burnie has been. You had friends, ones that you knew loved you and would probably make you feel better if you asked but you never did. 

It felt nice to be taken care of and you hadn't realized how much you'd missed it until it was happening again.

Your thoughts were interrupted by a medicine cup being thrust in front of you, the thick liquid with a faint scent of cherry invading your nostrils.

You pouted and heard Burnie sigh, looking up you saw him holding out some pills as well as a bottle of water, looking at you insistently.

Not having the energy to fight you grabbed the cup, grimacing as you threw back the syrup and accepting the water held out to you, chugging it back until the thick medicine was no longer coating your throat. 

"That was almost painless" Burnie grinned, dropping the pills into your hand and chuckling softly when you promptly flipped him off, downing all the pills in one mouthful of water before sitting back on the couch, bringing your legs up an resting your chin on your knees.

"You promised me soup, no slacking" 

Burnie simply shook his head and walked away, coming back a moment later with two steaming bowls in his hands, passing you one before sitting down with his own on the couch next to you.

You placed your face over the bowl, closing your eye and breathing the steam in slowly, sighing when it reached your lungs and began to warm you up.

"My mum used to use steam when us kids were sick" Burnie said, pointing at your bowl.

"Back when you were a kid in the twenties?" 

"Ha ha. It's good for congestion, my brother had really bad asthma and it used to help when his cough was particularly bad"

You watched as he spooned some soup into his mouth and looked down at your own, reaching for the spoon with shaky fingertips you swore softly when it fell from your grasp and clattered against the bowl.

"Meds made you shaky?"

You nodded sadly, flexing your fingers and furrowing your brow as they shook. Burnie clucked his tongue and put his bowl down, turning towards you and grabbing your soup, scooping some up with your spoon and smiling at you awkwardly, you shook your head.

"No" 

"Oh come on, you need to eat"

"Burnie you're not spoon feeding me"

"I can make train noises if it helps?"

"I took you as more of an air plane man honestly"

"I'm versatile" 

You bit your lip, looking at Burnie's encouraging expression.

"[YN] you need to eat"

Finally you sighed, cheeks flushing mildly with embarrassment as you turned your body to face him.

"No automotive sounds please." 

"You're missing out."

It was quiet as he lifted the spoon to your lips and you felt your hands shake with something akin to nerves rather than over medication.

"See? Not so bad"

"I feel like an infant" you supplied after swallowing the soup, you let out a small moan as it warmed up everything from your scratched throat, to your empty stomach.

"Burnie you're amazing"

"I know"

You rolled your eyes exaggeratedly as he spooned another mouthful past your lips and he laughed. 

"Seriously I can't remember the last time I had a home cooked meal let alone soup that wasn't out of a can"

"Well that just won't do, you'll have to come around for dinner every once and a while"

You felt your stomach flip a little at the hopefulness you thought you heard in Burnie's voice and you nodded earnestly.

"If everything you cook is as good as this then that will be no problem."

It didn't take long for Burnie to feed you the whole bowl and when you were finished you sat back, your stomach feeling comfortably full and warm.

"Thank you" you murmured, watching a little guiltily as Burnie started eating his own, probably now cold bowl.

He shrugged and waved a hand.

"Like I said, can't have you dying, you've already signed a three year contract"

You smiled at that, thinking about the day not too long ago when you'd been offered a permanent position at Roosterteeth after your intern ship.

"Like there are not thousands of other people who would give an arm to work there" you said, snuggling down under the blanket a little more.

"That's true. But it takes a certain person to work there, if the chemistries not right then there's no point" he said, letting his spoon fall with a clatter into his now empty bowl before picking yours up and taking them both to the sink.

You felt warmth that wasn't just from the food. You really did have your dream job and you really weren't the only person who would kill for it, the fact that Burnie thought you belonged there filled you with a heavy sense of pride.

"What are you smiling at? You’re meant to be on your deathbed"

Burnie sat down on the couch and fixed you with a glare as you shrugged.

"It's nothing"

"Hmm, well, do you want to watch a movie?" 

You nodded, handing the remote to Burnie and stifling a yawn and honestly you didn't know how you could possibly still be tired after the epic nap you'd taken.

"I don't have the mental capacity to choose something I think you'd like"

"Don't be so hard on yourself I'm a lover of all things"

"So if I put on The Notebook there'd be no complaining?"

"Complaining? No. Manly crying on the other hand"

"Manly crying?"

"Okay maybe slightly pitiful sobbing" you laughed as he searched through Netflix for the movie in question, turning it on and settling back against the couch.

You smiled at him from your position before clearing your throat, relieved to find out that your medicine had kicked in.

Burnie looked at you just as the dialogue started and you lifted up the corner of your blanket.

"Wanna share?" 

"Absolutely"

"Don't get too close I don't want to infect you"

"I think it's a little late for that. Besides I had my flu shot this year, I'm all good."

"Jeez someone's a grown-up"

"Yeah you should try it sometime."

You grinned stupidly at the screen for a moment, the silly bickering and the heat Burnie was radiating inches away from you blasting your mood up significantly.

You yawned again and winced when your jaw popped.

"Tired?" 

"I don't know how, I slept for basically the whole day" you said sluggishly, your eyes already blurring as they watched the television.

"Come here"

You turned and saw Burnie, his arm open and his shoulder inviting. You didn't have the energy to process the strangeness of the situation, and locked it away for later. Instead you leaned into him without a second thought, resting your face against his shoulder, closing your eyes and inhaling. Fabric softener and something else filling your nostrils and sending your brain into a dreamy haze. 

Burnie simply tucked the blanket around you, hand rubbing softly over your arm.

"He cooks and he cuddles. Definitely getting a #1 Boss mug" you mumbled, smiling when Burnie's chest rose and fell with quiet laughter.

"I don't do this for all the employees you know."

"I'm sure you've been in this exact position with Brandon before"

"Gross"

"You love it" you whispered drowsily.

"Go to sleep before you say something else you're going to regret"

"One step ahead of you"

You faintly felt the slight pressure of something pressing against the top of your head and Burnie's murmured reply, but sleep reached out and took you before you could make sense of any of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reader sure is sleeping a lot.  
> My past experience with the flu has led me to believe sleep is literally the best thing in the world.

**Author's Note:**

> I love how much Burnie takes care of his employees and I was bed ridden with a chest infection and wanted some comfort.


End file.
